Work stuff: I wonder if I am allergic to WORK.............I almost always, and have for years......get PWTS:
Post-Working Tramatic Syndrome
It almost always includes a headache......mild to migraine.......often includes nausea, and usually major tiredness, with or without the other symptoms.
This is why I rarely work two days in a row (much less in a month :) )
I have always wondered if it was the lights or chemicals.........I am pretty sure it is related to blood sugar issues as my meal times change, or even disappear, when I am at work. Or, could it be my brain is being forced to work? Who knows.............but it IS consistent. It sucks. These are twelve hour shifts........but we can count on being away from home no less than 13-15 hours each time. ugh.
Yesterday my legs and feet were trobbing after work...............they ached for a massage. :)
Phone calls: I REALLY needed to call some folks........it has been months.......or even longer since I talked to a few of these people. Since I had to chop so many vegetables for dinner tonight..........I decided to make a few calls. I tried my father-in-law.......guess he is out of town, in New Hampshire, for his annual August trip to see son #2, 9 of 10 grandchildren........and 6 great-grandkids. So I ended up talking to Aunt Dana, wife of son #4. It was so cute when Malachy yelled at the phone spontaneously: "Hi, Aunt Dana! Hi, godmother!" He was embarrassed by his cuteness. :)
I talked to my friend Jeanne in Sacramento area..........we were sad to miss a real life visit together last month............so we made up for it with a chat. She is a dear. Keep her in prayer, please.
My cousin Julie...........we have not chatted, I THINK, since we met at Disneyland last year........but we MAY have talked around Christmas.......not sure. It was fun catching up.........she is finally in nursing school. I do not envy her, being so "old" and going through nursing school. :) She is my closest age cousin: only 16 months younger. Now my dad can be reassured that I DO sometimes listen to him (and call my cousin).
A new friend: A Catholic homeschooling mom recently joined our online camping group......she only lives 2.4 hours away...........she has big and little children. My older kids are impressed that that her two oldest are Thomas Aquinas College students (one just graduated). So am I. Very cool. She lives on our way to visit Reno, so we expect to get to meet them in person one day........plus, they may have soccer games out our way this fall.
Gloria: Anne and I were doing dinner-prep, for John's meal (her husband), and I said: Why does cooking for John always have to be such huge amount of work??? :)(Since most of the year Gloria and John visit about once a month, Gloria and I do this together regularly........so, I already knew. :) )
Anne responded: Imagine what Gloria does, and with all those babies underfoot!
So, we called her to tell her we understand how hard she works, and to tell her we would pray for her always, to keep up the pace. :)
We also told her we are praying for her pregnancy and her risk factors. Please join us!
Hmmm.........was that ALL of the phone calls?
Tubing on the river: John took three of my kids tubing today......one of them took the last rapids without a tube..........a few scratches and bruises, but otherwise okay. They said it was pretty cold.
Now Showing: We saw a delightfully engaging old movie classic today! Random Harvest starring Greer Garson (one of my favorite actresses and the reason I had ordered it from Netflix) and Ronald Colman. It is based off a novel of the same name, by James Hilton. I knew I recognized the name! He wrote Lost Horizons. I read that once in high school and again last year. He also wrote Goodbye, Mr. Chips. I ordered both from the library............and will then watch the "Chips" movie with Greer Garson in it. There are three other re-makes after that, too. There was a newcomer in the film named Susan Peters. We looked her up on Google to see what else she did because we enjoyed her acting..........and found she had a tragically short life. It was depressing. :( My friend Clare just HAS to see this movie.........she will love the story AND the costumes. :)
We also saw The Errand Boy with Jerry Lewis. He was also the director and producer. Hardly funny at all, though comedy was the point........must have been just below Malachy's level (almost 7 years old) because he only laughed some of the time. :) WAY too predictable!
Going off to bed..............
God bless!
Chari
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
A Literature-Based Life
Earlier this week, I was pondering about a post of our upcoming Christmas Literature Evening, and I realized:
We live a LITERATURE-BASED LIFE.
I guess I always kind of knew that, but it just really struck me this morning.
Our homeschooling is literature-based: historically, scientifically, language arts, religion and sometimes math. This means we hardly ever use a textbook. We learn through our literature, or from primary sources.
All of our animals always have literature-based names: Stridor, Sebastion & Viola, Ivanhoe, Holly & Ivy, Rum Tum Tugger, Jennyanydot, Mr. Mistofoles & Skimbleshanks, Huckleberry & Tom Sawyer, Darcy & Bingley, Mr. Wickam, Donegal...there are probably more :)
Can you figure out where all of the names come from? Some are pretty easy.
The kids drama fun is almost always based on literature. For the moment, they are focusing on "Little Women." We all love live theater, and are very partial to those based on literature: Anne of Green Gables, Secret Garden, Jane Eyre
Which brings us to our music, again often coming from literature: from the musicals of Les Miserables, Jane Eyre & Little Women, to the music of movies based on literature: Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Pride & Prejudice.
Which brings us to our movies..............almost all of the movies we view, were fine literature first.......and sometimes, about literature themselves such as 84 Charing Cross Road starring Anthony Hopkins. Another phenomenon in this house: we often watch a movie, and run to the library to get the book.
Birthday parties have quite frequently been literature-based, as well as many of our tea parties. Anne made a birthday cake once, shaped like an open book, with gummy bookworms crawling out of it.
Sewing is also starting to take on some literature in this house: one of the girls is beginning to sew a "Little Women" dress.............and the others are not far behind.
Our car rides used to be filled with literature on tape.....but now that the kids are older.....it is spent discussing literature.
Our home decor supports the storage of literature :)
About games: I worked very hard.......searching ebay and buying from the UK a couple of special, high-quality literature-based games: Winnie-the-Pooh to be specific, like the Peter Rabbit's Blackberry Game, by the same company, but not sold in the US. We have Lord Of the Rings Monopoly (the kids ignore the original Monopoly now :))...do we have Lord of the Rings RISK, too? I wonder.....but would not be surprised.
When we take trips, we often make literature stops, as seen by our most recent Star-Spangled Adventure: homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder (four of them, to be exact), Louisa May Alcott (two of her homes), Margaret Sydney (Five Little Peppers), Henry David Thoreau (plus we walked all the way around Walden Pond)......and more. And, a trip to Eureka, CA, to visit their great-grandmother, is not complete without stopping at our favorite used bookstorein Old Town (Booklegger). We save up our money for just this visit!
Our souvenirs are just about always a book. Not a tourist book, but actual pieces of literature. Maybe a primary resource. I bought at least thirty books on our big cross-country trip. The kids bought mostly books, too. Definitely adds to our home decor. :)
We go to Yellowstone and I come home and order every book, especially primary resources, from the library. In fact, we may be the most abuser, I mean user, of our dear library, where our librarians are our friends. Whenever we study a topic, I scour the online catalogs of our libraries, and order, order, order.........
All through their growing up, the kids have imagined (and still do!) they are part of literary worlds. Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women...........and so on, ad naseum. :)
Any shopping, especially, thrift store shopping, requires going through every book, looking for a treasure. My home is now full of these treasures. It does leave you with dirty hands, though. :) Matthew has become addicted to browsing the on-going library sale, truly.
Our family traditions are often literature-based. We just finished celebrating Advent, and my youngest had 24 books to unwrap, one each morning of December, leading up to the birth of the Christ Child. All are Christmas literature, of some sort. And, of course, there were three more new Christmas book finds under the tree!
My children have SO many family memories, book-based. I wonder if they will laugh at the memory of me on the treadmill, reading aloud to them. I doubt it. I think they will think only of the gift of literature they received: Pyle's Knights of the Round Table, Little House books (prequels and sequels), The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Around the World in Eighty Days.....and the list goes on and on....
And, then there is the feet tickling.......as long as they keep tickling.....the longer mama would read to them. Anne and Matthew discovered that at young ages, and tickled my feet through the Chronicles of Narnia and all eight of the Anne of Green Gables books. Whenever I got near the end of the chapter, Anne would whisper: "Matthew, keep tickling and she will keep reading" I always pretended I did not hear. :) I enjoyed the tickling, but I have to admit, I was not ready to close the book yet........I wanted to know what was going to happen next, too.......even though I had already read through the stories several times.
I gave a baby shower for my friend Shawna a couple of years ago. What do you do for a mom, who is having her third child, who has everything she needs....especially one who is a new homeschooler? Why, you throw her a literature baby shower of course! When I sent out the invite, I sent a list of all of the books in the FIVE IN A ROW curricula. I asked the guests to bring a book off of this list or one of their favorites from childhood. It was so much fun.
And speaking of gifts, what do you think is the most common gift received from me??? Yep, you guessed it........a book, of course. For a baby gift, I like to give a special board book. One of my favorites is So Many Bunnies Board Book: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book. I like it so much, I got it for my friend, twice! :) Oops!
I have taught the kids to use literature as a way to meet people. :) I tell them if the introductions do not take off naturally, to ask the person what their favorite books are. This usually works quickly, and also lets us know pretty quickly if someone is a kindred spirit, too. :) I do the same thing to draw out shy youngsters, or even adults. Almost always works...except when they say: I hate books. :( Gladly that does not happen too often!
I asked Matthew, 17, if he felt we lived a literature-based life. He said, "I guess so." I asked him, "How?" He says, whatever I am reading at the time, affects my thoughts and real-life experiences.
I asked Anne, 19, the same question. She said, "No, we live a faith-based life, literature-saturated." I must admit she is right. Good for her to bring me back down to ground. :) But, it seems that a faith-based life, is going to be one spent in looking for the beauty in all things...from the places we go, to the things we see, to the books we read.
So, what do you all think? Am I bibliophile....or what? :) Are you?
We live a LITERATURE-BASED LIFE.
I guess I always kind of knew that, but it just really struck me this morning.
Our homeschooling is literature-based: historically, scientifically, language arts, religion and sometimes math. This means we hardly ever use a textbook. We learn through our literature, or from primary sources.
All of our animals always have literature-based names: Stridor, Sebastion & Viola, Ivanhoe, Holly & Ivy, Rum Tum Tugger, Jennyanydot, Mr. Mistofoles & Skimbleshanks, Huckleberry & Tom Sawyer, Darcy & Bingley, Mr. Wickam, Donegal...there are probably more :)
Can you figure out where all of the names come from? Some are pretty easy.
The kids drama fun is almost always based on literature. For the moment, they are focusing on "Little Women." We all love live theater, and are very partial to those based on literature: Anne of Green Gables, Secret Garden, Jane Eyre
Which brings us to our music, again often coming from literature: from the musicals of Les Miserables, Jane Eyre & Little Women, to the music of movies based on literature: Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Pride & Prejudice.
Which brings us to our movies..............almost all of the movies we view, were fine literature first.......and sometimes, about literature themselves such as 84 Charing Cross Road starring Anthony Hopkins. Another phenomenon in this house: we often watch a movie, and run to the library to get the book.
Birthday parties have quite frequently been literature-based, as well as many of our tea parties. Anne made a birthday cake once, shaped like an open book, with gummy bookworms crawling out of it.
Sewing is also starting to take on some literature in this house: one of the girls is beginning to sew a "Little Women" dress.............and the others are not far behind.
Our car rides used to be filled with literature on tape.....but now that the kids are older.....it is spent discussing literature.
Our home decor supports the storage of literature :)
About games: I worked very hard.......searching ebay and buying from the UK a couple of special, high-quality literature-based games: Winnie-the-Pooh to be specific, like the Peter Rabbit's Blackberry Game, by the same company, but not sold in the US. We have Lord Of the Rings Monopoly (the kids ignore the original Monopoly now :))...do we have Lord of the Rings RISK, too? I wonder.....but would not be surprised.
When we take trips, we often make literature stops, as seen by our most recent Star-Spangled Adventure: homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder (four of them, to be exact), Louisa May Alcott (two of her homes), Margaret Sydney (Five Little Peppers), Henry David Thoreau (plus we walked all the way around Walden Pond)......and more. And, a trip to Eureka, CA, to visit their great-grandmother, is not complete without stopping at our favorite used bookstorein Old Town (Booklegger). We save up our money for just this visit!
Our souvenirs are just about always a book. Not a tourist book, but actual pieces of literature. Maybe a primary resource. I bought at least thirty books on our big cross-country trip. The kids bought mostly books, too. Definitely adds to our home decor. :)
We go to Yellowstone and I come home and order every book, especially primary resources, from the library. In fact, we may be the most abuser, I mean user, of our dear library, where our librarians are our friends. Whenever we study a topic, I scour the online catalogs of our libraries, and order, order, order.........
All through their growing up, the kids have imagined (and still do!) they are part of literary worlds. Lord of the Rings, King Arthur, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women...........and so on, ad naseum. :)
Any shopping, especially, thrift store shopping, requires going through every book, looking for a treasure. My home is now full of these treasures. It does leave you with dirty hands, though. :) Matthew has become addicted to browsing the on-going library sale, truly.
Our family traditions are often literature-based. We just finished celebrating Advent, and my youngest had 24 books to unwrap, one each morning of December, leading up to the birth of the Christ Child. All are Christmas literature, of some sort. And, of course, there were three more new Christmas book finds under the tree!
My children have SO many family memories, book-based. I wonder if they will laugh at the memory of me on the treadmill, reading aloud to them. I doubt it. I think they will think only of the gift of literature they received: Pyle's Knights of the Round Table, Little House books (prequels and sequels), The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Around the World in Eighty Days.....and the list goes on and on....
And, then there is the feet tickling.......as long as they keep tickling.....the longer mama would read to them. Anne and Matthew discovered that at young ages, and tickled my feet through the Chronicles of Narnia and all eight of the Anne of Green Gables books. Whenever I got near the end of the chapter, Anne would whisper: "Matthew, keep tickling and she will keep reading" I always pretended I did not hear. :) I enjoyed the tickling, but I have to admit, I was not ready to close the book yet........I wanted to know what was going to happen next, too.......even though I had already read through the stories several times.
I gave a baby shower for my friend Shawna a couple of years ago. What do you do for a mom, who is having her third child, who has everything she needs....especially one who is a new homeschooler? Why, you throw her a literature baby shower of course! When I sent out the invite, I sent a list of all of the books in the FIVE IN A ROW curricula. I asked the guests to bring a book off of this list or one of their favorites from childhood. It was so much fun.
And speaking of gifts, what do you think is the most common gift received from me??? Yep, you guessed it........a book, of course. For a baby gift, I like to give a special board book. One of my favorites is So Many Bunnies Board Book: A Bedtime ABC and Counting Book. I like it so much, I got it for my friend, twice! :) Oops!
I have taught the kids to use literature as a way to meet people. :) I tell them if the introductions do not take off naturally, to ask the person what their favorite books are. This usually works quickly, and also lets us know pretty quickly if someone is a kindred spirit, too. :) I do the same thing to draw out shy youngsters, or even adults. Almost always works...except when they say: I hate books. :( Gladly that does not happen too often!
I asked Matthew, 17, if he felt we lived a literature-based life. He said, "I guess so." I asked him, "How?" He says, whatever I am reading at the time, affects my thoughts and real-life experiences.
I asked Anne, 19, the same question. She said, "No, we live a faith-based life, literature-saturated." I must admit she is right. Good for her to bring me back down to ground. :) But, it seems that a faith-based life, is going to be one spent in looking for the beauty in all things...from the places we go, to the things we see, to the books we read.
So, what do you all think? Am I bibliophile....or what? :) Are you?
Thursday, November 22, 2007
It is Thanksgiving Day!
Where are you? How did you spend your day? DO share!
Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I headed WEST.......for the first time since driving across the country on our Star-Spangled Adventure. We arrived in time for their Great-Grandma's Thanksgiving meal, last night. I think Grandma was hoping to make the BIG meal while no kids were underfoot ( I do believe she will agree with that :)). We were too full last night to have pie....so, that is awaiting us tonight after a bit.
After having major trouble falling asleep last night, due to a DOUBLE dose of Cafe Mocha at Java Joe's in Redding at 3:30pm......WHAT WAS I THINKING????..........I awakened today, obviously tired....but, just in time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We do not have any TV (we have a TV, just no television on it....we use it for movies--fun & educational)....so, this was only the second time the kids had seen the parade, the first time being last Thanksgiving, when we came here for a visit in 2006. It was such a fun contrast....because, since last Thanksgiving, we have actually been to New York City. It really changes our whole perspective. Plus, it was even more fun watching the Broadway musical scenes before the parade, having now seen a couple of Broadway shows.
I started organizing my Christmas cards, getting ready to address them.......while the kids watched an Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney)movie. The boys helped Uncle Steve start the process of prepping for Christmas lights. Tomorrow, they will work really hard on the project. Uncle Steve has been doing this for a hobby over the past few years, with his holiday decor getting more elaborate over the years. I will post a photo when I can.....maybe of last year's scene.
I researched the Internet for info on the latest Disney movie, Enchanted........my dad agreed to treat for the movie.......and we headed out the door, while Grandma put togther an evening meal.
We had such a delightful time at the movie! We rarely go to the movies......but for the last six years, any movie I have seen has been a Lord of the Rings movie or a "Pirate" movie......quite adventurous.........Enchanted was just plain fun, and, well, enchanting! It was clever, the music was enjoyable, the lyrics amusing, the acting good........and, once again, the kids and I could totally relate to the NYC scenes. :) The "dancing and singing in Central Park" was quite inviting. :) We all left with smiles on our faces, as was promised by a review. This is almost like the Disney of the past. We knew we could look forward to it when we saw the music was by Stephen Schwartz & Alan Menken. Let me know if you enjoy it.
Just a side note: the lead male is a divorce lawyer......so, there is a divorce being dipicted........and, the lead male is a single dad.....who eventually says his wife left him. My kids are older and not as unaware as they may have been as youngsters. If this concerns you, do preview before your kids see it. Also, there are a few scary scenes, very much like in Sleeping Beauty.
In fact, I called a friend, who has a daughter who will not appreciate the movie because of her youth ........but, I told the mom, she would love it. Any adult who has grown up with Disney Princess movies, going all the way back to the first, will appreciate this story.
We came home to a yummy roast, salad and potatoes. Thanks, Grandma!
Anne worked on her school papers; the rest watched I Love Lucy re-runs. Then, we watched a Howard Keel musical we brought from the library, Kismet. Kind of slow........definitely not as much fun as any of his other movies.
Pie, ice cream.....and bedtime!
With Thanksgiving blessings,
~C~
Yesterday afternoon, the kids and I headed WEST.......for the first time since driving across the country on our Star-Spangled Adventure. We arrived in time for their Great-Grandma's Thanksgiving meal, last night. I think Grandma was hoping to make the BIG meal while no kids were underfoot ( I do believe she will agree with that :)). We were too full last night to have pie....so, that is awaiting us tonight after a bit.
After having major trouble falling asleep last night, due to a DOUBLE dose of Cafe Mocha at Java Joe's in Redding at 3:30pm......WHAT WAS I THINKING????..........I awakened today, obviously tired....but, just in time for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We do not have any TV (we have a TV, just no television on it....we use it for movies--fun & educational)....so, this was only the second time the kids had seen the parade, the first time being last Thanksgiving, when we came here for a visit in 2006. It was such a fun contrast....because, since last Thanksgiving, we have actually been to New York City. It really changes our whole perspective. Plus, it was even more fun watching the Broadway musical scenes before the parade, having now seen a couple of Broadway shows.
I started organizing my Christmas cards, getting ready to address them.......while the kids watched an Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney)movie. The boys helped Uncle Steve start the process of prepping for Christmas lights. Tomorrow, they will work really hard on the project. Uncle Steve has been doing this for a hobby over the past few years, with his holiday decor getting more elaborate over the years. I will post a photo when I can.....maybe of last year's scene.
I researched the Internet for info on the latest Disney movie, Enchanted........my dad agreed to treat for the movie.......and we headed out the door, while Grandma put togther an evening meal.
We had such a delightful time at the movie! We rarely go to the movies......but for the last six years, any movie I have seen has been a Lord of the Rings movie or a "Pirate" movie......quite adventurous.........Enchanted was just plain fun, and, well, enchanting! It was clever, the music was enjoyable, the lyrics amusing, the acting good........and, once again, the kids and I could totally relate to the NYC scenes. :) The "dancing and singing in Central Park" was quite inviting. :) We all left with smiles on our faces, as was promised by a review. This is almost like the Disney of the past. We knew we could look forward to it when we saw the music was by Stephen Schwartz & Alan Menken. Let me know if you enjoy it.
Just a side note: the lead male is a divorce lawyer......so, there is a divorce being dipicted........and, the lead male is a single dad.....who eventually says his wife left him. My kids are older and not as unaware as they may have been as youngsters. If this concerns you, do preview before your kids see it. Also, there are a few scary scenes, very much like in Sleeping Beauty.
In fact, I called a friend, who has a daughter who will not appreciate the movie because of her youth ........but, I told the mom, she would love it. Any adult who has grown up with Disney Princess movies, going all the way back to the first, will appreciate this story.
We came home to a yummy roast, salad and potatoes. Thanks, Grandma!
Anne worked on her school papers; the rest watched I Love Lucy re-runs. Then, we watched a Howard Keel musical we brought from the library, Kismet. Kind of slow........definitely not as much fun as any of his other movies.
Pie, ice cream.....and bedtime!
With Thanksgiving blessings,
~C~
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